On January 1st,
on the steps of City Hall, I will be inaugurated for another term as your
mayor. You’ve entrusted me with an enormous
responsibility-and I’ll do my best to live up to it.

The start of a new year, and a
new term, is a good time to look back on what we’ve achieved, and also look forward to what we still need to
accomplish. We all remember how uncertain our city’s future seemed
four years ago. But out of the pain of our city’s worst tragedy, New
Yorkers came together, and we have stayed together.

Over the last four years we’ve learned that we are, after all, one
city, one people, with one common destiny. And together, we’ve achieved
more than anyone ever thought possible. Now, that same spirit of unity must
continue to guide us through the challenges that lie ahead.

United, we can make the safest big city in the nation even safer-especially
by working in Albany, in Washington, and with leaders in other states and
cities to end the flow of deadly firearms into New York.

United, we can continue to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers,
and maintain a fiscally responsible City government without losing the compassion
that defines our city.

United, we can transform the face of New York with new parks, new affordable
housing, and new hope in communities across our city.

United, we can quicken the pace of redevelopment in Lower Manhattan, so
that it once again excites the imagination and admiration of people all over
the world.

United, we can create more jobs in all five boroughs, and move thousands
more New Yorkers from the dependency of welfare to the dignity of work.

And united, we can continue to lead our public schools forward, and give
all our children the first-rate education that is their fundamental right.

We can do all this and more. Because time and again, through blizzards,
a blackout, and most recently through a transit strike that could well have
shut our city down, New Yorkers have shown that we can solve any problem
when we set our self-interest aside, and put our common interests first.

Four years ago, I pledged to govern
our city without partisanship or prejudice. I’m renewing that commitment to you today. New Yorkers deserve a City
government of independence and integrity...one that doesn’t sidestep
the hard choices... and one that always puts the interests of the people
first. That’s what I’ll strive to give you for four more years.